Greg Zeschuk and Ray Muzyka co-founded BioWare in 1995. After a good 17 years running the company, both men are stepping away from the gaming world to recharge and chase other dreams.

Both industry veterans are widely credited for leading a company that single-handedly changed the modern role-playing game genre in profound and lasting ways. Not least of all, it’s also thanks to memorable titles like Baldur’s Gate, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, Neverwinter Nights, Jade Empire, and Mass Effect.

Dr. Zeschuk gave a goodbye blog post through BioWare/EA, stating his own personal reasons for leaving:

I’ve reached an unexpected point in my life where I no longer have the passion that I once did for the company, for the games, and for the challenge of creation. For the people I have had the privilege of working with, however, my passion burns as brightly as it did the day we started. The people I work with now, and that I have worked with in the past, have inspired me and really made all of the challenges we’ve collectively faced over the years worthwhile. We have been blessed with tremendous success over the years at BioWare, and the reason is simply down to a large number of great people doing great work.

Dr. Muzyka also gave his own farewells, thanking various people within BioWare and outside the group, including various developers and publishers that he worked with along the way.

I feel the need now to move on to a new chapter in my career. With the growth of BioWare to multiple locations as part of a public company, following two decades of multiple successful product launches across many platforms and business models, I’ve largely personally achieved what I wanted in videogames; I now desire to take on a brand new entrepreneurial challenge. I believe strongly in the power of free enterprise to enable sustainable change, so my next ‘chapter’ will likely focus on an entirely new industry, something exciting, different and frankly downright scary – investing in and mentoring new entrepreneurs, and more specifically, the field of social/impact investing.

As it currently stands, BioWare is in a very good place for both Zeschuk and Muzyka to step down. Aside from successfully pulling off the final release of the company’s largest franchise yet (Mass Effect), there’s still a bright future ahead for the now-massive corporation now that they’re gearing up for Dragon Age III in 2013.

Greg Zeschuk (@DoktorZee) has hinted that he’ll essentially be riding off into the sunset to spend time with his family and whittle away his idle days enjoying fine imported beers. Ray Muzyka’s (@RayMuzyka) foray into entrepreneurship will be focused around the social media world, so his Twitter account will stay reasonably active for years to come.

Greg Zeschuk and Ray Muzyka co-founded BioWare in 1995. After a good 17 years running the company, both men are stepping away from the gaming world to recharge and chase other dreams.

Greg Zeschuk and Ray Muzyka co-founded BioWare in 1995. After a good 17 years running the company, both men are stepping away from the gaming world to recharge and chase other dreams.

Both industry veterans are widely credited for leading a company that single-handedly changed the modern role-playing game genre in profound and lasting ways. Not least of all, it’s also thanks to memorable titles like Baldur’s Gate, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, Neverwinter Nights, Jade Empire, and Mass Effect.

Dr. Zeschuk gave a goodbye blog post through BioWare/EA, stating his own personal reasons for leaving:

I’ve reached an unexpected point in my life where I no longer have the passion that I once did for the company, for the games, and for the challenge of creation. For the people I have had the privilege of working with, however, my passion burns as brightly as it did the day we started. The people I work with now, and that I have worked with in the past, have inspired me and really made all of the challenges we’ve collectively faced over the years worthwhile. We have been blessed with tremendous success over the years at BioWare, and the reason is simply down to a large number of great people doing great work.

Dr. Muzyka also gave his own farewells, thanking various people within BioWare and outside the group, including various developers and publishers that he worked with along the way.

I feel the need now to move on to a new chapter in my career. With the growth of BioWare to multiple locations as part of a public company, following two decades of multiple successful product launches across many platforms and business models, I’ve largely personally achieved what I wanted in videogames; I now desire to take on a brand new entrepreneurial challenge. I believe strongly in the power of free enterprise to enable sustainable change, so my next ‘chapter’ will likely focus on an entirely new industry, something exciting, different and frankly downright scary – investing in and mentoring new entrepreneurs, and more specifically, the field of social/impact investing.

As it currently stands, BioWare is in a very good place for both Zeschuk and Muzyka to step down. Aside from successfully pulling off the final release of the company’s largest franchise yet (Mass Effect), there’s still a bright future ahead for the now-massive corporation now that they’re gearing up for Dragon Age III in 2013.

Greg Zeschuk (@DoktorZee) has hinted that he’ll essentially be riding off into the sunset to spend time with his family and whittle away his idle days enjoying fine imported beers. Ray Muzyka’s (@RayMuzyka) foray into entrepreneurship will be focused around the social media world, so his Twitter account will stay reasonably active for years to come.